Dover eighth graders win OCC title, cap unbeaten season

Dover’s girls basketball team may have struggled a bit this year but the immediate future couldn’t look too much brighter. The Tornadoes look like they may receive a nice influx of talent

Dover’s eight-grade girls rolled to the Ohio Cardinal Conference championship behind the play of Rylee Hall, Taylor Tharp and Gianna Statler. The run was capped by a 47-20 victory over Wooster in the championship game Feb. 5.

Dover started the tourney with a 57-10 win over Lexington Feb. 2. Hall and Tharp then led the way two days later, when the Tornadoes posted a 29-8 victory over rival New Philadelphia in the semifinal.

The run to the championship capped a perfect 16-0 season for Dover. That group has a 32-1 record over the past two seasons.

Dover’s seventh-grade girls fell 31-17 to Wooster in the first round. Addy Felton and Jaylen Lute were among those playing key roles for the Tornadoes this season.

At the varsity level, Dover’s regular season finished with a pair of loses, first 55-43 in an OCC game against Ashland Feb. 7, then 41-29 Feb. 9 in a non-league contest against Massillon Perry. The Tornadoes finished the regular season 5-17 overall, 4-10 in the OCC, which left them in sixth place.

In other action, Claymont fell to Indian Valley 44-39 Feb. 5 despite 16 points from Ava Edwards. The Mustangs dropped a heartbreaker to Buckeye Trail Feb. 7 in the regular-season finale, falling 53-51. That left Claymont with a 12-10 regular-season record, a five-win improvement over 2024-25. It assures the Mustangs of their first .500 season in three years, and their highest win total in at least a decade.